Preventing the mistakes of 2019

Interim Budget projections for 2024-25 should conform to standard practices of transparency, pragmatism and caution

In about a fortnight from today, the Union finance ministry will kick off the Budget exercise for 2024-25. The pre-Budget discussions to finalise the revised estimate (RE) for 2023-24 and the budget estimate (BE) for 2024-25 will take place in North Block, the headquarters of the finance ministry, from October 10 to November 14. Representatives of all key central ministries will take part in these meetings and will help the finance ministry assess how the RE for both revenue and expenditure should look like for the current financial year. More significantly, these meetings will also provide an indication of the